Meltwater percolation, impermeable layer formation and runoff buffering on Devon Ice Cap, Canada
The retention of meltwater in the accumulation area of the Greenland ice sheet and other Arctic ice masses buffers their contribution to sea level change. However, sustained warming also results in impermeable ice layers or ‘ice slabs’ that seal the underlying pore space. Here, we use a 1-D, physica...
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Cambridge University Press
2020
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:08d5a37c5d3b43198216d81c649242fb 2023-05-15T14:58:37+02:00 Meltwater percolation, impermeable layer formation and runoff buffering on Devon Ice Cap, Canada David W. Ashmore Douglas W. F. Mair David O. Burgess 2020-02-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.1017/jog.2019.80 https://doaj.org/article/08d5a37c5d3b43198216d81c649242fb EN eng Cambridge University Press https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S0022143019000807/type/journal_article https://doaj.org/toc/0022-1430 https://doaj.org/toc/1727-5652 doi:10.1017/jog.2019.80 0022-1430 1727-5652 https://doaj.org/article/08d5a37c5d3b43198216d81c649242fb Journal of Glaciology, Vol 66, Pp 61-73 (2020) Arctic glaciology melt – surface polar firn snow/ice surface processes surface mass budget Environmental sciences GE1-350 Meteorology. Climatology QC851-999 article 2020 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.1017/jog.2019.80 2023-03-12T01:30:57Z The retention of meltwater in the accumulation area of the Greenland ice sheet and other Arctic ice masses buffers their contribution to sea level change. However, sustained warming also results in impermeable ice layers or ‘ice slabs’ that seal the underlying pore space. Here, we use a 1-D, physically based, high-resolution model to simulate the surface mass balance (SMB), percolation, refreezing, ice layer formation and runoff from across the high-elevation area of Devon Ice Cap, Canada, from 2001 to 2016. We vary the thickness of the ‘impermeable’ ice layer at which underlying firn becomes inaccessible to meltwater. Thick near-surface ice layers are established by an initial deep percolation, the formation of decimetre ice layers and the infilling of interleaving pore space. The cumulative SMB increases by 48% by varying impermeable layer thickness between 0.01 and 5 m. Within this range we identify narrower range (0.25–1 m) that can simulate both the temporal variability in SMB and the observed near-surface density structure. Across this range, cumulative SMB variation is limited to 6% and 45–49% of mass retention takes place within the annually replenished snowpack. Our results indicate cooler summers after intense mid-2000s warming have led to a partial replenishment of pore space. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Greenland Ice cap Ice Sheet Journal of Glaciology Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Arctic Canada Greenland Devon Ice Cap ENVELOPE(-82.499,-82.499,75.335,75.335) Journal of Glaciology 66 255 61 73 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
Arctic glaciology melt – surface polar firn snow/ice surface processes surface mass budget Environmental sciences GE1-350 Meteorology. Climatology QC851-999 |
spellingShingle |
Arctic glaciology melt – surface polar firn snow/ice surface processes surface mass budget Environmental sciences GE1-350 Meteorology. Climatology QC851-999 David W. Ashmore Douglas W. F. Mair David O. Burgess Meltwater percolation, impermeable layer formation and runoff buffering on Devon Ice Cap, Canada |
topic_facet |
Arctic glaciology melt – surface polar firn snow/ice surface processes surface mass budget Environmental sciences GE1-350 Meteorology. Climatology QC851-999 |
description |
The retention of meltwater in the accumulation area of the Greenland ice sheet and other Arctic ice masses buffers their contribution to sea level change. However, sustained warming also results in impermeable ice layers or ‘ice slabs’ that seal the underlying pore space. Here, we use a 1-D, physically based, high-resolution model to simulate the surface mass balance (SMB), percolation, refreezing, ice layer formation and runoff from across the high-elevation area of Devon Ice Cap, Canada, from 2001 to 2016. We vary the thickness of the ‘impermeable’ ice layer at which underlying firn becomes inaccessible to meltwater. Thick near-surface ice layers are established by an initial deep percolation, the formation of decimetre ice layers and the infilling of interleaving pore space. The cumulative SMB increases by 48% by varying impermeable layer thickness between 0.01 and 5 m. Within this range we identify narrower range (0.25–1 m) that can simulate both the temporal variability in SMB and the observed near-surface density structure. Across this range, cumulative SMB variation is limited to 6% and 45–49% of mass retention takes place within the annually replenished snowpack. Our results indicate cooler summers after intense mid-2000s warming have led to a partial replenishment of pore space. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
David W. Ashmore Douglas W. F. Mair David O. Burgess |
author_facet |
David W. Ashmore Douglas W. F. Mair David O. Burgess |
author_sort |
David W. Ashmore |
title |
Meltwater percolation, impermeable layer formation and runoff buffering on Devon Ice Cap, Canada |
title_short |
Meltwater percolation, impermeable layer formation and runoff buffering on Devon Ice Cap, Canada |
title_full |
Meltwater percolation, impermeable layer formation and runoff buffering on Devon Ice Cap, Canada |
title_fullStr |
Meltwater percolation, impermeable layer formation and runoff buffering on Devon Ice Cap, Canada |
title_full_unstemmed |
Meltwater percolation, impermeable layer formation and runoff buffering on Devon Ice Cap, Canada |
title_sort |
meltwater percolation, impermeable layer formation and runoff buffering on devon ice cap, canada |
publisher |
Cambridge University Press |
publishDate |
2020 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1017/jog.2019.80 https://doaj.org/article/08d5a37c5d3b43198216d81c649242fb |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-82.499,-82.499,75.335,75.335) |
geographic |
Arctic Canada Greenland Devon Ice Cap |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Canada Greenland Devon Ice Cap |
genre |
Arctic Greenland Ice cap Ice Sheet Journal of Glaciology |
genre_facet |
Arctic Greenland Ice cap Ice Sheet Journal of Glaciology |
op_source |
Journal of Glaciology, Vol 66, Pp 61-73 (2020) |
op_relation |
https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S0022143019000807/type/journal_article https://doaj.org/toc/0022-1430 https://doaj.org/toc/1727-5652 doi:10.1017/jog.2019.80 0022-1430 1727-5652 https://doaj.org/article/08d5a37c5d3b43198216d81c649242fb |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1017/jog.2019.80 |
container_title |
Journal of Glaciology |
container_volume |
66 |
container_issue |
255 |
container_start_page |
61 |
op_container_end_page |
73 |
_version_ |
1766330751052152832 |